For illumination applications, light emitting diodes offer substantial potential benefit associated with their energy efficiency, light quality, and compact size. However, to realize the full potential benefits offered by light emitting diodes, new technologies are needed. For instance, in a typical production scenario, a circuit board is populated with light emitting diodes of various colors and types that are selected to achieve a pre-determined color prescription. Multiple light emitting diodes of different colors, for example red, green, and blue, may be color-mixed on a circuit board to achieve a desired output that is white or a saturated color output. As another example, multiple light emitting diodes of varying white hues, such as warm white, neutral white, and cool white, can be color-mixed on a circuit board so that their outputs blend together to provide a desired, composite output. As another example, colored light emitting diodes can be mounted on a circuit board with white light emitting diodes so that the colored light emitting diodes shift the composite output in a desired direction, such as adding warmth to a cool white output.
Such conventional light emitting diode manufacturing approaches can have efficiency shortcomings, including having to maintain substantial inventories of various types and colors of light emitting diodes. Further, the conventional light emitting diode manufacturing approaches are not suited to manufacture customized light emitting diode packages and make changeovers on-the-fly to meet specific customer requests. The conventional light emitting diode package manufacturing processes result in a fixed set of light emitting diode packages that generate light having a limited set of pre-determined color temperatures and having a limited set of light emitting diode configurations (e.g., geometric placement). Consequently, an end user of the light emitting diode package, for example, a luminaire manufacturer, is restricted in the choice of color temperature and the shape of light sources that they can offer their customers. That is, if a customer requires a light source that generates light that has a color temperature that is outside of the limited set of pre-determined color temperatures offered by the fixed set of light emitting diode packages, the luminaire manufacturer has no ability to change the light emitting diode package on-demand to meet the requirements of the customer. This in turn limits the autonomy and flexibility of the luminaire manufacturers or other such end users of the light emitting diode package to provide customized lighting solutions to their customers based on their requirement.
Accordingly, improved methods for making light emitting diode light sources are needed. Further need exists for light emitting diode light sources that have improved designs, for example that facilitate efficient manufacturing with the ability to customize at a chip level. A technology addressing such a need, or some related deficiency in the art, would benefit lighting applications.